FIRST: Want to have us sign your copy of Fairylore? And come meet us in person?? We’ll be hanging out and signing books at Sara’s favorite local bookstore, Virginia Highland Books, in Atlanta on March 14th from 1:00 – 3:00 PM! Come say hi!

Now…

It’s once again time for “Curiosities,” an update where we each talk about things that we’re currently reading, listening to, watching, thinking about, and laughing at!

Since we always love writing them (and the responses to them in our inbox indicate that you love reading them!), we have this grand plan in our heads that we’re going to do them quarterly – 4x a year. And yet we seem constitutionally incapable of remembering to write one more than once a year. What is time? Will 2026 be the year we actually do a series of 4? WHO KNOWS?

In the meantime, hi! Curiosities. Let’s go.

Sara:

What I’m Reading: I’m currently reading books number 16 (Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall), 17 (Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes), and 18 (Myths & Legends edited by Jake Jackson) of the year. Paris Daillencourt is a re-read for me (I’ve had a medically stressful couple of weeks and my coping mechanism is Alexis Hall novels), and it’s 1) hilarious, of course, and 2) makes my hair stand on end with its terrifyingly accurate depiction of clinical anxiety. Another particular favorite within the last month was the latest by T. Kingfisher, Snake-Eater, an incredibly strange and excellent story about… an evil roadrunner god? It’s extremely folklore-y and gently sinister, as Kingfisher is wont to do. I refuse to say more because I don’t want to ruin it, but definitely check it out. 

What I’m Listening To: I’m pretty sure the last time we did one of these, Brittany and I wrote about Paris Paloma, so I’m loath to repeat myself. And yet, she has outdone herself, and I’m finding myself listening to “Good Boy” at least once a day lately. (#mood) On a completely different note, late last year I went to an All Time Low concert with Jared (spouse) and Erin (BFF and probably literally All Time Low’s biggest fan), and it was ridiculously fun and delightful. They sound phenomenal live and are extremely charismatic, they threw out some guy who was harassing the people around him in the middle of the show, and they, with much merriment, opened Pokemon cards on stage. What’s not to love? And so now I’m reliving my emo music era and blasting “Time Bomb” and “Dear Maria, Count Me In” at full volume in the car and shower and the kitchen. 10/10. 

What I’m Watching: To the surprise of literally no one, I’ve been on a bit of an anime bender over the last few weeks. (See: coping mechanisms.) I really enjoyed Love Through a Prism, which is about a young artist named Lili who travels from Japan to study painting in London shortly before the outbreak of WWI. I found the voice acting a bit distracting, but the visuals were beautiful, and I’m a sucker for shows about art and about striving towards excellence in your area of expertise. I also appreciated the array of settings – London, the Cotswolds, the Lake District, and Yokohama, among others – and the camaraderie of the art students reminded me so much of grad school. Another sweet one from the last couple of weeks is The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, which is a fairly straightforward offering from the high school romance genre, but I was charmed by the teenage characters’ emotional intelligence and willingness to talk to each other about their fears, hopes, and feelings. Fragrant Flower is also pretty notable for lots of lovely, non-toxic friendships, including friendships between boys and also across gender. And also baking.

Something That Made Me Think: A few weeks ago, Veronica Roth, the author of Divergent, wrote a wonderful piece called “Do I Like It? Reflecting on Divergent After 15 Years.” I appreciated the way she drew back the curtain on the experience of getting that sheer volume of feedback, some positive and some negative, and named the intrinsically human experience of amplifying the negative in your own brain. And how she then explained the impact that had on her future projects and her mental health. I feel like this one is a must-read for anyone who makes stuff, because she’s right: “do I like it?” is usually the sanest metric we should be using to evaluate our own work. 

Something That Made Me Laugh: 

YOU’RE WELCOME.

Brittany:

What I’m Reading: I’ve obviously been meaning to read Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett for ages, pretty much since the second I heard about it, but for some reason I just… didn’t. Does this ever happen to you? You find a book that just seems PERFECT for you, but you keep finding excuses not to read it? This happens to me fairly often, and I’m honestly not quite sure why. Maybe it has something to do with being afraid something that sounds so perfect will somehow disappoint you? Maybe it’s a bit of bizarre defiance, a bit of ‘I shall NOT engage with this thing just because I should’? Both? I really don’t know, but I’m glad I got over it because I am really, really enjoying this book! It’s kind of perfect to read now too, as the main character is literally writing an encyclopedia of fairies from around the world… which is pretty much exactly what our book, Fairylore, is! 

What I’m Listening To: I pretty much only listen to Florence’s Everybody Scream album now. I am obsessed. I love all the songs SO MUCH. So yeah, not much new music for you from us for this list I guess? Oh, also the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. For reasons.

What I’m Watching: To the surprise of no one who knows my secret morbid tendencies, I love a good murder mystery tv show. Right now, Josh and I are loving Elsbeth and High Potential. They’re both a little offbeat, both center brilliant, quirky women in delightful outfits, and are just ridiculously fun to watch. Speaking of brilliant, quirky women in delightful outfits who solve murders, we also started watching old episodes of Murder She Wrote! It is 80s-tastic nostalgia, yes, but it’s also just good. I’m constantly impressed with how excellent the twists are. Also, all of these women are not 25 and yet totally embodying their awesomeness. I love to see it. Lastly, The Pitt is back and every Thursday we are totally CONSUMED by that utter masterpiece of a medical drama.   

Something That Made Me Think: I’ve been reading and watching a lot about the death of James Van Der Beek recently. Van Der Beek starred on Dawson’s Creek, a show I am not ashamed to admit I was totally obsessed with when I was in 8th/9th grade in particular, so his death was obviously very sad to me. That said, the variety of articles and essays and videos that have come out in the aftermath of his death from colon cancer on February 11th, at only 48 years old, have been fascinating to see. I read one about the horror of the expenses of medical care in the US, care that essentially bankrupted Van Der Beek’s family despite the fact that he was a relatively famous actor who worked fairly consistently before his illness (I especially loved when he parodied himself, as in the TV show Don’t Trust the B— in Apt 23 and Ke-”dollar sign”-ha’s music video for “Blow.”) I watched a video from a guy who always strongly resembled Van Der Beek musing how his death meant that, while he would continue to age, Van Der Beek would not. He would have to face the truth he would probably never be told he looked like him again. Pieces about what Dawson represented for a generation, clips from the show, expressions of sadness… I don’t have a grand statement on what it all means yet, maybe I never will, but processing this celebrity death has felt different, and that has certainly made me think.  

Something That Made Me Laugh: I saw this tote bag in a bookstore this past weekend, and it absolutely cracked me up.

I 100% regret not buying it, despite the fact that I have way, way, WAY too many tote bags already. #justsirenstuff

What are you reading, listening to, watching, thinking about, and laughing at lately? If something is really delighting you, reply in the comments!

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